What is it with zany job interviews and why are they suddenly en-vogue?
“There are lots of reasons for interviewers to ask a weird question – to see how fast a candidate can think on their feet, to gain insight into their personality, or to gain an idea of their thought processes.” says Mat Jackson of Manpower.
Rather than asking if a candidate whether they are qualified, job interviews ask silly questions.
“One job seeker was told to talk to a teddy bear, while another was asked if he knew how it felt to kill a man…” claims a BBC news article.
Ever since Microsoft made headlines for its unconventional approach to interviewing, more and more companies are looking for that certain approach that will uncover just the right quality of mind, despite them have little, if anything to do with the job.
In the book How would you move Mount Fuji?, it lists some of the more wierd questions that Microsoft and other big businesses are using.
To get a job, it would seem you need to think of the most unexpected questions… but, I mean really — who gives a damn whether or not you can move Mount Fuji or not?
Walking the talk
More and more companies use tests, exams to see just how good you are. Even smaller companies or one-man-band’s need to know that you can do what you say you can do… they want to see you “walking the talk”…
In the new media and website industry, companies increasingly ask you to do a test: design a website for a client, or design a logo, write compelling copy for a client, etc, etc…
This kind of questioning, testing process might anger, frustrate and annoy many job interview participants — the idea of being more entreprenuerial than the next job applicant is not a new one, and all it needs is a spark of creativity, a “think big” attitude.
The 5 assets of any business
Before you apply for any job, think first of the 5 assets of any business – which one of these are important for a business? Which one would you be most concerned about when applying for a job?
- Financial assets
- Physical assets
- Intellectual assets
- Human assets
- Social assets
Of those, the most important asset is the social one. If your company/business or potential next employer doesn’t share the same social assets or philosophy as you do then ask yourself “why should I work for this employer?”
Once you’ve fulfilled that asset you can really shine at an interview regardless of whether or not they ask “stupid” questions.
But what happens if you don’t have a choice about the social asset? What happens when you need a job so badly that it hurts? How do you stand out?
If you really want to shine in an interview, in a job…the answer is simple, don’t treat it like a job… be more entreprenuerial than the next guy/girl and be open to the idea that you *can* and will make a positive impact for your next employer by thinking big, think about the benefits you can bring to their business (not what you can/will do), think about the finanical assets you can improve, think about the physical, technical, intelliectual and human assets you can improve upon, use bottom-line language and fresh ideas like the cardboard cut-out idea…
In the end, a job is only a job if you feel it has no value to you. A job becomes much more than that (regardless of any question asked of you) when you believe it is worth more than the numbers printed on your pay-cheque.
More Resources
More on Microsoft Interview Questions
More on the Interview process at Microsoft
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